Sunday with St. Paddy
The true story of St. Patrick’s
St. Patrick was born Maewyn Succat but after the school yard bully called him “Girly May Suck At” he asked his parents to change it. When they refused, he said he would run away. When he turned 16, and wanting to make a better name for himself, he headed to Ireland because he heard the beer was good.
After a rough crossing of the North Channel, he disembarked, green to the gills and promptly threw up. As he sat shivering on the curb, a family on their annual vacation was leaving the themed restaurant, Medieval Times (just called Times in those days), young Angus of the clan McDonald, pointed and shouted, “Look! That guy has the Shamrock Shakes!”
His parents admonished him for this rude outburst, but generations later, a distant relative (Raymond of the clan McKrok), would recall this story passed down as family folklore, and hit on an idea for a seasonal treat, but that’s another story.
At the first bar Maewyn saw, he began to do a jig. When asked by passersby what he was doing, he said, “It’s my anti-snake dance. It keeps the snakes away.”
People looked around. No, there were definitely not any snakes to be seen, but they couldn’t remember if there had been snakes there before, either. Erring on the side of caution, they agreed to pay him to travel from town to town, ridding the country of this terrible scourge.
The townsfolk watched as turned to walk away an patted himself on the back. Interestingly enough, in Gaelic “rick” (pronounced reah/hic) means: “one’s back”. He smiled, thinking how lucky and charming he was in this new country.
Later that year, in partnership with the Dental Association, he would invent a cereal so sweet, it ensured the longevity of the dental profession, whose members now revered him as a saint.
True story.
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
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